Dominic Longo

I have seen a few articles making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook involving the terms of use for the website Pinterest and what it means to those who are registered there. Disagreement always ensues in the comments and who knows what is actually the case. Instead of taking that route I just want to draw attention to some language that could be problematic and, in turn, affect how one uses the website.

*Note - the Terms of Use referenced below are dated March 29, 2011*

In reference to “member content” which is defined in the Terms of Use as “all Content that a Member posts, uploads, publishes, submits or transmits to be made available through the Site, Application or Services.”

Member Content

We may, in our sole discretion, permit Members to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit Member Content. By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. Cold Brew Labs does not claim any ownership rights in any such Member Content and nothing in these Terms will be deemed to restrict any rights that you may have to use and exploit any such Member Content.

I have highlighted the text that stands out in this section. The section goes on to make the member represent they own or have the rights for what they are uploading; But the notable point here is that by uploading content you have given Pinterest a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with a ton of rights on top of that. Pinterest users better make sure they are comfortable with this before they submit “member content”. Especially with the addition of the gifts section, where items are on sale, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before Pinterest capitalizes off the sale of items for their own benefit, to the detriment of the creator. Also, this should make users really question just how broadly “Site, Application, or Services” could be interpreted, especially when dealing with a high-tech website based start-up (just look at how many changes Facebook and Twitter have gone through).

In addition to being weary of what materials users upload that they do own, users should also be careful when they are uploading “member content” that they don’t have the intellectual property rights for, because of the following.

General Prohibitions

You agree not to do any of the following:

Post, upload, publish, submit, provide access to or transmit any Content that: (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate, any applicable law or regulation or would give rise to civil liability; (iii) is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive; (iv) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, vulgar or offensive; (v) promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group; (vi) is violent or threatening or promotes violence or actions that are threatening to any other person; or (vii) promotes illegal or harmful activities or substances.

Cold Brew Labs will have the right to investigate and prosecute violations of any of the above to the fullest extent of the law. Cold Brew Labs may involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who violate these Terms.

The general prohibitions go on to list a lot more no-no’s for Pinterest users, but relevant to the submission of “member content” is what is above. Pinterest has the right to investigate and prosecute and violations, and may bring in other law enforcement/authorities to handle any situation. Note that this isn’t just on content that you upload yourself, but that you post, publish, submit, provide access to, or transit. Thus, be weary not just of the items you upload, but what you pin to your boards from other users or share on your own website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I would like to think an investigation would only follow the original poster of the copyrighted material, but this section is written so broadly that users need to be aware of what could happen in a worst case scenario.

And… Just for fun… Maybe someone can help make some sense out of this?

Copyright Policy

Cold Brew Labs copyright law and expects its users to do the same. Cold Brew Labs has adopted and implemented a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of registered users or other account holders who repeatedly infringe or are believed to be repeatedly infringing the rights of copyright holders. Please see Cold Brew Labs’ Copyright Policy at http://pinterest.com/about/terms.html, for further information.

Cold Brew Labs ________ copyright law and expects its users to do the same. There’s clearly a word missing there… I suspect it is respect, but the possibilities are endless.